Mother of man shot and killed by police blames addiction for his death

MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP, YORK COUNTY, Pa. -- The mother of a man shot and killed by a police officer in York County is blaming the incident on her son's addiction.

Pennsylvania State Police say an officer shot 29-year-old Logan Montgomery over the weekend after Montgomery pulled out a gun and fired the weapon at two officers, who were confronting Montgomery about a previous crime.

Montgomery was staying at the Motel 6 off Arsenal Road when those officers came looking for him in connection to a retail theft earlier Saturday.

"It was milliseconds everything that happened. I, unfortunately, did see the gentleman on the ground, and to me, he had looked in bad condition," said Christopher Toussant, who was staying at the motel.

Montgomery's mother says, in recent years, there were two versions of her son.

"We'd describe it as the Logan that we know, and then the Logan on drugs," said Sheila 'Cali' Elser of East Donegal Township, Lancaster County.

Elser says Montgomery was battling addiction for 10 years, and he was likely trying to pay for drugs which led to the retail theft.

She says there's not enough help available for people with a dependency.

"I'm not saying addicts shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes because I think they should be, but with that said, but I think we need to revamp how we're doing everything," she explained.

Elser says Montgomery's addiction started with marijuana, escalated to pain killers, and soon after, heroin. She says he had been revived by the overdose reversal drug - Narcan - at least 10 times.

"All that does is brings him back, and throws him back into the same situation, and then you're talking a day or two later, that he might be overdosing again, and they're doing the same thing again, and it's a horrible, vicious cycle," said Elser.

She says it's a cycle which brought Montgomery in and out of prison.

To Elser, the whole situation feels surreal, but she wants to talk about what happened to share a message with other parents.

"You need to really pay close attention to what your kids are doing, who they're hanging out with, and do whatever you can to stop it because once that ball gets rolling, it's harder to stop. It's harder to get control over, and the help is just not there," she said.

Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the shooting.

They say they have to interview a few key people before they're able to say more about what happened during the shooting Saturday night.